: Insists On Dissolution Of Imo Council Of Traditional Rulers.
Group under the appallation of Imo Concerned Stakeholders has commended the state Governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma for selecting what they described as seasoned technocrats as members of the up-coming cabinet to pilot the affairs of Imo for the second term.
This is even as they appealed to Governor to in interest of peace, equity and progress of Imo, dissolve the Eze Okeke led Imo State Council of Traditional Rulers.
In a release signed by the President of the Group, Chief Frank Chukwuemeka Obiekwe and made available to Lead, the group noted that Eze E. C. Okeke has taken Imo State Council of Traditional Rulers to its lowest ebb administratively adding that the only way to restore the dignity of the Institution is to dissolve the Council having also exhausted the constitutionally provided term of office.
As contained in the release,this is the first time the council is having somebody who lacks capacity and leardership tact at the apex of its leadership. He is considered as lacking wisdom, intelligence amongst Others and the. Worse still, he surrounded himself with sycophants.
Recall that Eze E. C. Okeke was appointed by His Excellency ,Senator Hope Uzo-dinma as the Chairman of Imo State Traditional Institution and Community Po-licing on assumption of office in 2020. He later was inaugurated as the Chairman of Imo State Council of Traditional Rulers on 7th April 2022. To that effect, his tenure has elapsed as at 7th April 2024. And when you look at it holistically, he has served for about 4 years. Unfortunately, he is said to be boasting that he will remain Eze Imo for another 4 years no matter how any body feels about it. He probably does not know or agree with the law that it is the prerogative of His Excellency to appoint one for such position and that it is for a two-year tenure. It was further noted that with the recent death of the Chairman of Owerri Zone who he feels was his rival, he feels strongly that the coast is clear for him to continue as Eze Imo. In a twist and to further confirm that he is blank on the position of Imo State of Nigeria Traditional Rulers, Autonomous Communities and Allied Matters Law No 10 of 2020 as amended, he is allegedly making plans to appoint one of his sycophants, Eze Lucky Okoro of Owerri West to replace the Late Chair-man of Owerri Zone.
A look at Imo State of Nigeria Traditional Rulers Autonomous Communities and Allied Matters Amendment Law No 10 of 2020:
Section 11: The Principal Officers of the State Council of Ndi-Eze shall
(a) Consist of the Chairman and three Deputy Chairmen to represent each of the three Senatorial Zones in the State namely Owerri, Orlu and Okigwe;
(b) be appointed by the Governor
Section 13: The tenure of office of the Chairman and Deputy Chairmen of the State Coun-cil of Ndi-Eze shall be two (2) years in the first instance and they may be re-appointed for one more term of two years only
Section 14 (1) Where a Principal Officer of the State Council of Ndi-Eze dies, resigns his office or at any material time is incapable of performing the functions of his office or he is removed by the Governor, the Governor shall appoint another Eze to replace that Principal Officer for the remainder of his tenure.
The group however and unequivocally accused the Monarch of being completely ignorant of the law guiding the council that he is the Chairman. In other related considera-tion, the group feels that Eze E. C. Okeke has eroded the gains made by previous leaders of the Council especially from Eze Cletus Ilomuanya and recently that of Eze Samuel Ohiri. Specifically looking at his scorecard:
Currently there is high level of distrust and lack of unity among the over 600 Traditional Rulers in the State. It is said to be so bad now that he cannot get up to 20% of Traditional Rulers on his side. He does not carry those is leading along and that makes it difficult to cascade the government policies and pro-grams to the grass root.
He does not seem to understand his primary role in the preservation of the rich cultural and traditional values of our state. He is only interested in his personal gains. Last year he organized a personal “Iriji” Festival in Owerri outside his domain, which was an embarrassment to an average Owerri man. It was reported that he turned down suggestions to make it “Imo Iriji Festival” because he saw it as opportunity to raise fund for himself with the people he gave Chieftaincy titles and other supports he got.
He allegedly abandoned his primary responsibility in the last few months as he was busy visiting government agencies for no just reason.
In his lack of Accountability, he initiated a project of writing a compendium of Traditional Rulers in Imo State. This project which cost several millions of Naira was handled by several incapable contractors appointed by himself and till date no body knows how much of the council’s had earned money he sunk into it. In a similar manner, he allegedly has continued to appropriate the fund meant
for widows of late Traditional Rulers without carrying even the other Princi-pal Officers along. It is no longer news that he is selfish and in his penchant for “me, mine and myself”, himself and his family have been handling all the projects and activities in the Council in the last 4 years.
In terms of impact of Traditional Rulers in their various communities, it is lowest under his leadership because most Traditional Rulers are not carried along by him in terms of government policies and programs. For the LGA Chairmen especially those from Orlu Zone, he chose mainly his sycophants instead of those with capacity to lead.
On a general note, Eze E. C. Okeke has proved to be one of the wrong appoint-ments of His Excellency in his first term.
There is no doubt that Imo State Council of Traditional Rulers is generally seen as an arm of government and therefore should be seen to be supporting govern-ment policies and programs especially with their role as the last gate keeper to the grass root, it becomes necessary that the right people with capacity should take the driver seat. Government especially the administration of His Excellency Senator Hope Uzodinma has done much to uplift the status of Traditional Rulers in the State. This gesture must be complimented with the right leadership so that it will not be a case of “one step forwards and two steps backwards”.
However,all efforts made to reach the said Eze Okeke to hear his own side of the story proved abortive as his number was not reachable at the time of filing this report.
